King’s Ely students participate in Erasmus project in Madrid

A group of King’s Ely Senior students have recently returned from an exciting volunteering exchange to Madrid.

Thirteen students from Years 9 to 11 spent seven days in the Spanish capital as part of an Erasmus+ funded project called GI Learner. They took part with around 80 other students from schools in Romania, Austria, Belgium and Spain.

The students worked to trial and feed back on a suite of resources aimed at pupils in Years 7 to 12, which helped develop their geographical thinking and use of digital mapping. The resources will be re-written using this student feedback, and then made freely available in different languages for people to use across the EU.

Students also produced tours of the city for other young people to follow using digital tools, and explored the city using apps and digital maps. They took part in treasure hunt-style activities to help them ‘see’ the city in a new way and, of course, they had lots of opportunities to mix socially and work collaboratively with students from across the world, which is one of the main aims of Erasmus+ funded projects.

Head of Geography at King’s Ely Junior, Alan Parkinson, who led the trip, said: ‘I have been involved with Erasmus projects for seven years and they have taken me to most European countries. It has been exciting to provide this opportunity for King’s Ely students, allowing them to explore a major capital city in new and creative ways, and to get involved in sharing their ideas with influential academics and educators from other countries. The older students got a taste of life at the Complutense University of Madrid.’

To discover more about Erasmus+ go to www.erasmusplus.org.uk. For more information about opportunities at King’s Ely, please visit www.kingsely.org.